


Judicious

by chipushit



Series: DC AU where Boostle is a happy couple [1]
Category: Alternate Universe - Fandom, Blue Beetle (Comics), Booster Gold (Comics)
Genre: Cuddling & Snuggling, M/M, Mutual Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-23
Updated: 2018-01-23
Packaged: 2019-03-08 08:46:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,660
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13454673
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chipushit/pseuds/chipushit
Summary: Sharing an apartment with a fellow superhero who became your best friend was even better, even IF the guy sometimes almost died so you had to build him a new arm, and oh help build him an artificial lung and heart. No big deal! Going into debt for your best friend, that's just what a guy did! You took to washing his part of the dishes while he cooked dinner for you both just to test out his mechanical prosthetic once he was out of rehab, because that's just what two best pals did.





	Judicious

**Author's Note:**

  * For [NaughtyAnne](https://archiveofourown.org/users/NaughtyAnne/gifts).



> alternate universe where Booster's just got a lot of different mechanics going on with his whole prosthetics and he and Ted have been roommates for a solid eight years - part of my boostle giftathon on tumblr

The pitching whine of an alarm woke Ted from a nightmare he quickly forgot about, and a loud clattering from the front of the apartment only made it harder to untangle himself from his bedding. Ted left his phone screeching on his nightstand and grabbed up a baseball bat from their umbrella stand as he tried to sneak into the kitchen.

 

Ted slapped his own hands to his face as he caught sight of Booster Gold, his fellow 'superhero', roommate and all-around mystery standing in their kitchen still in his super suit. His bionic, right hand was mangled to the thumb and he was wearing his Legion Flight Ring on his left hand. The rest of Booster was fine.

 

“Booster! What the _HELL_ did you do!?”

 

“Listen, before you get mad, it was– on a mission I can't tell you about, so don't ask.”

 

Booster Gold raised his fleshy hand and sat down at the counter, the two of them in there basically filling the small space.

 

“How is that supposed to do anything but piss me off, Booster – I  _ wake up to our home invasion alarm going off _ and it’s my damn roommate coming in the window –  The entire street could have seen you, and you could have called me?”'

 

Ted cut his own rant short and steepled his fingers over his nose for a moment. He took calming breaths and then fetched a towel, mopping up the lubricating fluids leaking from the ruins of Booster's bionic hand off the counter and then around his forearm.

 

“What are you going around doing that can wreck the entire skeletal frame like this? Did it disrupt the power source at all?” Ted was unaware that he was fretting. “Wait. No, I would get an alarm on my phone.”

 

“Don't worry about it, I'm fine! I can pay you for services rendered, alright? Just– Fix me, Teddy?” Booster swiveled at the waist, pouting.

 

Ted felt a big  _ fuck you _ forming in his belly, but, he redirected his energy in walking back to his room, turning his alarm off and returning with a tool kit in hand. Ted turned the overhead light on and closed the window against the frigid winter air.

 

“I shouldn’t fix you, I should let you fall apart.” He grumbled, pushing Booster's knee until the other man was sitting at their counter properly, right arm bottom up on the oil stained towel. “I should stop paying for your nonsense.”

 

“But, Teddy, I'm paying you to fix me, this time! Isn't that an improvement?” Booster asked, while Ted pried the bent plating of Booster's remains of a thumb and hand off.

 

“No. Don't call me 'Teddy’. Take off your wrist bracers, I have to remove your  _ entire _ forearm. Damn it  _ Michael. _ ”

 

Booster huffed, but he did as Ted told him, laying his bracers aside.

 

“D-don’t call *me* Michael.”

 

Ted cut a look up at Booster that curdled his blood and Booster went silent.

 

“Your wrist joint looks okay. Thank whatever future Batman you worship about that or I would have actually killed you. The big problem is the connectors for your thumb are shorting out.”

 

Ted flexed Booster's thumb and Booster felt a sharp pain snap through his body. “I'm going to have to take it apart to the shoulder for tonight, I can't replace this at home.”

 

“Do you really have to? You aren't just mad and pulling my leg?”

 

“Yeah, or you'll have a lot of sensory feedback you do not want. I installed an emergency over-ride for a certain threshold, but it won't work when there's a misaligned power source. Also, where the hell is Skeets?? Did he get hurt?”

 

Booster had gone a bit ashen under his visor, and he shook his head.

 

“No, he's on a date.”

 

“A date?? Skeets has a  _ social  _ life?? Even I haven't had a date in weeks!” More like months.

 

“Yeah, I owe him a night off, anyways.” Booster said as if it were no big deal, then looked away, staring out the same window he had crawled in through. “Just– Alright, hold on.” He shrugged out of his suit, wiggling it down to his waist. His right side was still covered in scars, his shoulder and pectoral made up of artificial skin covering the area where his organic skin turned into sleek bionics.

 

Despite being one of the people who had helped install Booster's new lung, heart and arm, the sight of it always brought back the nausea of seeing his roommate, friend, and partner-in-sometimes-actual-crime mangled near to death.

 

Booster twisted on his stool so Ted could work from the opposite side of the counter, elbow against that towel. “Here, hurry up, it's cold in here.”

 

The only sounds for a chunk of time was the fridge gurgling and the soft clicking of tools and metal as Ted deftly disassembled Booster's arm. The chassis had been a Palmer Tech collaboration, using their nanotechnology to affect a much more mailable and stronger than Ted could to alone.

 

When he got down to the internal structure, made of mesh tendons filled with a circulating coolant, Ted hesitated.

 

Booster was ashy and stiff, gnawing his lower lip. All signs of a super nervous Booster Gold.

 

“Hey. Are you okay? Did the feedback start already? Is... Is it memories?” Ted asked softly, giving Booster some room while Booster took off his visor and set them aside, wiping his flesh hand over his face.

 

“Yeah. I can almost feel the... The  **stuff** that's gone. How it used to be. Before all that.”

 

“I can stop for now.” Ted instantly set his tools aside and stood up, rubbing his own back and stretching his neck.

 

“No. It's fine, Teddy, I'll be alright. Just finish up so I can sleep.” Booster fell silent again, and Ted finished removing the internal workings to the elbow.

 

“Gonna unfasten it at your shoulder, you still alright?”

 

Booster nodded, and braced his hand on the edge of the counter, while Ted twisted and unhinged Booster's arm frame at the shoulder and popped it out of his socket frame. It was hefty, but Ted handled it easily and set it all on the counter.

 

“Alright, there we go. I can fix this in an hour once I get to the proper equipment, don't worry, Booster.”

 

“I'm not worried, just tired. Exhausted, to be honest. I had a long day.” Booster grumbled.

 

“Why did you crawl in through the  _ window _ ?  _ At least _ tell me that.”

 

Booster averted his gaze, rubbing the top of his bionic shoulder and shrugged. “I lost my keys and didn't want you asking questions about the suit OR my hand. I guess I failed pretty spectacularly.” Booster got to his feet and left his equipment on the counter.”But it's YOUR fault having manual locks for our doors when you could install something I never needed a key for!”

 

Ted nodded, packing up his tools and continuing to inspect the remains of Booster's hand. “ “Buddy! You biffed it pretty bad, that's such a convoluted excuse! I might be forced to tell everyone I can find tomorrow. 'Oh Booster Gold? Yeah he lost a hand crawling in our kitchen window!”

 

“That would only make people think your product is faulty.”

 

“Nope. I would just blame Palmer for the bad parts.” Ted picked up the tool kit and remains of hand. “Turn off the light when you go to sleep, I'm just going to lay back down and read.”

 

“But it's only eleven, we could watch a movie together.” Booster suggested, while Ted was already striding down the hall towards his bedroom.

 

“No thanks. You should rest, too. Good-night!” Ted closed his bedroom door rather sharply behind him, and sat on his bed to try and forget the scars all over Booster's body.

 

* * *

 

It didn't work, and Ted laid awake. Weighing his chances in sleeping at all before dawn, or how much work he could get done if he left for JLA headquarters and used the lab equipment before anyone else got in.

 

That way, Booster would have his arm ready first thing in the morning. No more sad Booster Gold, no more pain in his gut he couldn't do a damn thing about.

 

The ideas never out-weighed one another and nibbled away an entire hour before his internal 'turmoil' was interrupted by a knock on his bedroom door. Ted started, in spite of knowing Booster was the only other person in their apartment.

 

“Uh, yeah?” Ted coughed as he sat up , inhaling on his own saliva in his rush to reply. “W-what's up?” He coughed, and Booster opened his door just enough to poke his head on through.

 

“Were you still awake?”

 

“Yeah, I couldn't sleep. What about  _ you _ , weren't you exhausted?” Ted turned his bedside lamp on and gestured at Booster. “Come in already.”

 

Booster let out a relieved sigh and was in his stupid pajama shorts and a t-shirt so old, Ted had no idea what had originally been on the front, just that it was blue and had too many holes on the hem. “I was wondering, uh... Nevermind. It's stupid.” Booster backpedaled, while Ted scoffed.

 

“What, do you want to sleep on my floor again? It's been years since you did that.” Booster shrugged, and Ted turned his bedside lamp off and scooted over to the window side of his bed. “The floor is ice cold in here, we both know it. Just get on the bed.”

 

Ted half expected Booster to put up a fight, but, the other superhero crawled onto Ted's bed and got under the covers, keeping a safe half foot between them. Even  _ if _ Booster had fallen asleep on movie night enough times, Ted knew the guy was a cuddler.

 

“You see how hard it's coming down out there? I bet the lines freeze before morning.” Booster said, wiggling down against the bed to get comfortable, and pointed at Ted's window. The snow, still falling heavily.

 

“Maybe.... are you having trouble sleeping because it's cold in the apartment?” Ted asked, glancing at the window and back to his friend, who looked less like a superhero and more like a guy who had been spending too much time listening to sad pop-rock.

 

“No...”

 

“Ah. I get it. You haven't had  **those** thoughts going on in a while, have you?”

 

“What about  _ you _ .” Booster retorted, head on the pillow Ted had moved over for him. “You told me your insomnia had gone away.”

 

“It HAD... It just happened to come back a few months ago.” Ted huffed, and Booster's feet were close enough to his legs he could feel how cold they were.

 

“You should go back to a therapist, Teddy. You've been testy as hell the past month, I should have realized it's because you're having nightmares.”

 

“I'm not– Who said anything about nightmares! I'm just preoccupied!”

 

“Yeah? Just so happens we both get all... Weird around this time of year? Not like I got cut up around this time?”

 

“Don't  _ say _ it like that, Mike, c-come on.... Okay. Fine. Maybe you've got a point.”

 

Booster nodded against his pillow, still staring at Ted, who was staring at the window. “You saw my side and went the color of wet flour. Come on, Ted. If you can't talk to me, who can you talk to?”

 

While he made a noise of dissent in his throat, Ted turned his gaze from the window onto Booster. “I keep having nightmares about you. Your insides falling out, it just keeps happening. Every day this week.”

 

“Me too. I've been keeping myself busy, even went  _ bowling _ with Bea and Tora. I picked up Max's dry-cleaning just to have something to do.”

 

“Oh, Booster, I could have had you do that if you NEEDED something to do! How'd you score?”

 

“I got a 50...”

 

Ted snorted a sudden and unexpected laugh out his nose. “Oh, My God Booster! That's  _ horrible _ .”

 

_ “Yeah,  _ I know. I just tried staying out, I didn't... Want to talk about it.” Booster and Ted were laying on their sides facing each other, now, as if it were no big deal to share a bed and blankets.

 

“Wow, we're a set, huh?” Ted said. “Bonded by trauma.” He said, with the light tone one only used with someone who understood exactly how it felt.

 

“Yep.” Booster put on a solemn, sage tone, nodding. “It's a deep connection, after all.”

 

“Best friends in bad dreams.”

 

“Pals in pain.”

 

“Friends in fear.”

 

They both snickered and said in unison, “<i><b>Soul-mates in sorrow</i></b>” Before they both laughed, Ted nearly cackling while Booster only chuckled.

 

“Now that's better, I haven't seen you smile in weeks.” Booster said, so softly it made Ted stop laughing, made him fully focused on how their knees were so casually against each other. How his belly was touching the top of Booster's thighs because they were that close.

 

“What's wrong? Is it just your flashbacks? Or... Something about your time traveling nonsense?”

 

Booster nodded, very slightly, and had not taken his eyes off of Ted's face in over ten minutes. “Something like that. Uh... Ruined my hand trying to preserve a piece of a dead timeline, is the best way I can put it?”

 

“So you're telling me after you were so vehement about keeping it to yourself? Anything about me not really 'having an impact on history' or something like that?” Ted asked quickly, and just as fast he winced and chastised himself. “Come on, me... Keep going, sorry.”

 

“You've always been important in  _ my  _ history, Ted. More than you realize. More like a universal–”

 

“Hey, whoa. Stop. You can't start blabbing like that, you'll get Rip on your tail about it.” Ted pointed out in reflex, after so many years of hearing the same sort of thing from Booster ( And sometimes, Skeets ).

 

“I don't care. Listen, this isn't about any Timelords, or time changing Speedsters or anything like that. I just...” Booster blinked at him and Ted suddenly realized Booster's knees were bumped between his own and Booster was looking at him like he was the contract for an animated series based on Booster's personal adventures. “For once in ten years, I want to ignore all that. I want to be happy, no matter what anyone says – ”

 

“A-alright?” Ted's stomach was squished by Booster's, and Ted was aware of his own heart, throbbing against his lungs. “Booster?”

 

“Yeah?”

 

“If you're going to kiss me, you better just go ahead and kiss me before I –“

 

They both had dry lips, and Ted could tell Booster hadn't brushed his teeth as Booster Gold gave Ted Kord the most awkwardly angled kiss of his life, a quick and nearly chaste smooch. Ted felt their chins rub stubble together and then, Booster pulled away.

 

They stared at one another with widening eyes, and were so silent they could hear the snow on the window panes.

 

“You did it.”

 

“I did do it.”

 

Ted inhaled and exhaled shakily. “Listen, though, I am… Maybe we should talk about this in the morning?”   
  


 

Booster looked like he could cry with relief. “Yeah. Yes! Uh, you’re not mad?”

  
  
“Booster. If I were mad, you’d know it and not be tangled up in my limbs, wouldn’t you? We’re practically cuddling  _ already _ .”

  
  
“Yeah, but… I really don’t think I could get back to sleep.” Booster said, raising his brows in a blase manner, as if this were as simple as ordering a pizza. “It’d distract us. And...I’m not always  _ that  _ bad at kissing.”   


  
Ted laughed again, this time he gave Booster a self-satisfied smirk. “Buddy, I don’t know, that was still pretty damn good.”

  
  
“Oh, you have no idea. You have got  _ no _ clue, Teddy.” Booster said smugly, poking Ted in the middle of his chest. As if they hadn’t spent the past decade tip-toeing around this exceptionally easy to solve problem.   
  
“Call me Teddy, again.”

  
  
  
  
  



End file.
